Scioto Gives profiles: Friends of DD, UCAN, and PAAC

The Scioto Foundation will offer Scioto County participating nonprofit organizations (NPOs) a new opportunity to raise money for their endowment funds when it sponsors “Scioto Gives,” a one-day matching gift program on Oct. 24, 2013.

Scioto Gives will establish a new partnership between local NPOs and the Scioto Foundation as it assists the nonprofits with their annual membership drives and helps smaller, grass roots NPOs accept online gifts. To implement the new idea, the Scioto Foundation has set aside $20,000 to use as matching money for 2013.

Contributions from donors will be received on the Scioto Foundation website, www.sciotogives.org from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 24. Donors can also drop checks off at the Foundation office at 303 Chillicothe St., in Portsmouth, or transfer stocks between the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the designated day.

Fifteen non-profit organizations are participating in the campaign, and each week the Daily Times will profile some of them here.

The Friends of Scioto DD

The Friends of Scioto DD (Developmental Disabilities) share a passion for building meaningful lives for people with developmental disabilities from birth to adult. The Friends have been formed to meet the needs for which tax dollars may not be used.

Through its fundraising, the Friends will provide aid for projects, events and items vital to individuals with disabilities and county board staff, and work together to achieve the agency’s mission and vision.

“We have a great group of community members who have come together to support the Scioto County Board of Developmental Disabilities,” said Shawn Jordan, Awareness Coordinator for SCBDD. “They will be hosting a fundraiser on Oct. 19 in which participants have a chance to win $5,000 cash.”

For more information on the Friends of Scioto DD, call 740-354-3839.

Scioto Foundation UCAN

The Scioto Foundation’s unique UCAN (University/College Access Network) program is dedicated to helping Scioto County youth plan, prepare and pay for college. The vision of the Scioto Foundation’s staff and five-member Board of Governors in establishing UCAN, the first program of its kind in Ohio Appalachia, is to make it possible for every student in Scioto County to attend the college or university of his or her choice, according to Kim Cutlip, SF Executive Director.

Launched in the fall of 2008, the innovative UCAN initiative is a network of partners dedicated to providing financial assistance to every Scioto County student who wants to go to college. Participants in the area-wide effort are all 12 Scioto County school districts, the South Central Ohio Educational Service Center, Shawnee State University, local businesses, committed volunteers and individual donors.

As UCAN’s key component the Scioto Foundation issued challenge grants to all Scioto County school systems, offering them matching grants of up to $10,000 for every dollar raised for their scholarship endowments invested at the Foundation, each year for five years from 2008 – 20013. The Foundation initially committed $600,000 for those five years and now will offer an extension of the matching challenge grant program to area schools on a 1:2 basis for the next three years with incentives to earn additional monies for their endowment scholarships.

The Foundation’s UCAN project has three other major elements: support for local school districts in establishing or expanding AP class offerings, the establishment of a centralized scholarship database for Scioto County students and parents, and the formation of a campaign to encourage building a college-going community and saving for college early.

Portsmouth Area Arts Council

The mission of the Portsmouth Area Arts Council (PAAC) is to integrate arts into the lives of children. The organization pursues this goal through its education series, attracting performances from all over the country to show for area students that relate to their studies, and also through their local children’s theater productions in the fall and spring, and summer workshop. As many as 75 children participate in the children’s theater, preforming shows for the local community and schools.

“We were lucky enough to start our endowment fund with Scioto Foundation several years when they had a similar promotion going on, where they would match money contributed by the organization. I think when we started it was a very modest endowment but has grown over the years under the eye of the Scioto Foundation. Each year we take each distribution from that endowment and have it fund our children’s theater scholarship. Each year we give two $500 scholarships to graduating members of our senior company who participate in our spring musical. This will be our third year for that, and our endowment this year we anticipate will be large enough to pay for those scholarships every year and from here on out,” said Becky Lovins, of PAAC.

With the help of continued donations, Lovins said PAAC would like to make those scholarships renewable through college, and not only a one-time.

For more information about PAAC, visit them on Facebook or online at www.paac4kids.org, or call their office at 740-351-3642, or e-mail paac@shawnee.edu.

Ryan Scott Ottney can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 287, or rottney@civitasmedia.com. For breaking news, follow Ryan on Twitter @PDTwriter.

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